Clifford
Growing Up Cliff was born and raised in a farming
community in North Dakota. Born on July 21, 1920, life was
tough and everyone worked very hard on the farm. This is
where Cliff developed his hunting, trapping and shooting
skills.
WWII shortly after Cliff started college at the North
Dakota State Normal and Industrial College, he enlisted in
the Navy, and was deployed to the Scout & Raider division,
the division of the Navy that eventually became the Navy
SEALS. Cliff started officer's training at Marquette and
Columbia Universities. He was trained in advanced combat
techniques, intelligence gathering, and covert activities,
in Fort Pierce, FL before being sent to China. Cliff
survived a crash-landing in an airplane on his way to
China from India, traveling over the Himalaya Mountains on
September 13th (which turned out to be son Mike’s birthday
at a later date). His first duty was to set up a weather
station and radio the weather from his location in China
to the Naval Fleet in the Pacific. Being part of the
Sino-American Cooperative Organization, he then began
training Chinese soldiers to fight the Japanese after
their invasion of China. The band of SACO soldiers
frequently ran nighttime raids against the Japanese, being
very effective as a small group against large Japanese
divisions. His group was involved with the liberation of
Shanghai, erecting the first American flag there. He was
involved in a tense standoff with the Japanese commander
as the Japanese were leaving Shanghai. In Shanghai, Cliff
ran the motor pool after the war and met his soon-to-be
wife, Teresa. Teresa was in Shanghai on the Naval hospital
ship, the USS Repose, toward the end of the war. Teresa
and Cliff were married in Phoenix in 1946 after they
returned from their service in the Navy.
Career After the wedding, Cliff and Teresa moved to North
Dakota where Cliff started back at college at the Normal
and Industrial College, majoring in Industrial Arts and
Education. He took his first teaching job in Burley,
Idaho, and then shortly afterward, Granite Falls, WA,
where he became the high school principal. He then moved
the family to Everett in 1952, starting at North Junior
High and then moving to Evergreen Middle School in 1958.
Cliff taught for 33 years, retiring in 1979. He started
his own wood working business at home, which he kept for
many years producing toys, birdhouses and decorative
pieces in the home shop.
Family Cliff and Teresa had four children: Jerry, born in
Aberdeen, SD, Mike, born in Snohomish, Kurt and Ann born
in Everett. Cliff was extremely hard working, working
extra jobs around his teaching to support and provide for
his family. He built the family house on Highland Road
after teaching, working at Pacific Fruit and Produce at
night--somehow the house materialized during those few
hours from 10 pm to midnight and on weekends. Cliff and
Teresa lived in the Highland Road home for 37 years.
Cliff was an avid sportsman, and many family activities
revolved around fishing, hunting or a day at the beach
clam digging. Cliff played football and was an
accomplished runner during college, and he instilled the
love of sports in all of his children. Cliff mentored many
through his involvement in Boy Scouts. He was also very
artistic, with his medium being wood. He produced several
beautiful pieces of furniture and marquetry pictures that
the family still enjoys.
Legacy Cliff is survived by wife, Teresa, sons Jerry
(Theresa) and Mike (Barb), daughter Ann and sister Clara.
He is also survived by his grandchildren, Amy (Matt), Adam
(Lindsay), Emily (Dax) and Paul and great grandchildren,
Makenzie, Jacob, Finley, Nathan and Bennett. He was
preceded in death by his son, Kurt, in 1994.
We extend a special thank you to Ruth Waweru and her staff
at Alder Gardens at Mill Creek and to the nurses at
Evergreen Health Hospice for their loving care of Cliff.
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Teresa
As if turning 100 weren’t a great enough milestone for one
year, Teresa Schmierer took a cross-country flight with
other veterans in 2019 and saw her name displayed at the
Women in Military Service for America Memorial.
“She did excellent, she has so much energy,” said Kim
Pontrello, who was among travelers on a Puget Sound Honor
Flight journey in September. “She’s a hundred and a half,
and doing well.”
The two women were featured in this column June 30.
Schmierer had celebrated her 100th birthday with a party
at Everett’s 24 Hour Fitness. Friends for years, they join
in a water aerobics class twice a week at the fitness
center. Pontrello, who lives in Everett’s Silver Lake
area, regularly picks Schmierer up at her nearby
retirement community and drives her to the pool.
It was Pontrello, 61, who learned about the Honor Flight
program and let her friend know about it. As one of more
than 11,000 women in the Navy Nurse Corps during World War
II, Schmierer — then Teresa Walsh — served aboard the USS
Repose, a hospital ship. She met her future husband,
Clifford Schmierer, in Shanghai, China, during the war. A
teacher, he died in 2014.
Puget Sound Honor Flight, part of the nonprofit Honor
Flight Network, offers several short trips each year,
giving U.S. military veterans the opportunity to see the
memorials of the Washington, D.C., area. More than
sightseeing, the trip gives veterans, many of them
elderly, a way to share camaraderie with others who have
known war.
About 50 to 60 veterans travel on each trip, with all
expenses paid. Each is accompanied by someone, usually a
family member, who pays $1,000 for the journey that
includes a hotel stay, transportation and celebratory
meals.
Pontrello went on the September trip, accompanying two
Korean War veterans who needed her help. And one of her
friend’s two sons, Mike Schmierer, of Oregon, acted as the
official escort for his mother, a woman with an infectious
smile.
From start to finish, veterans get special treatment —
cheers and salutes on their departure, a special banquet
and thank-you notes on the plane coming home.
The Women in Military Service for America Memorial, part
of Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, was a
highlight for Schmierer.
“What she loved about that, she looked up on this big
screen and they were featuring her information,” said
Pontrello, who believes the display was there to coincide
with the visit of Puget Sound area veterans.
The video display featured a photo of Teresa Walsh
Schmierer in uniform, her dates of service (Jan. 5,
1943-May 20, 1946), that she had reached the rank of
lieutenant, and a quote: “I served on the USS Repose, a
hospital ship, in the eye of a storm, typhoon, on
September 15, 1945, in Okinawa.”
At 100, Schmierer was the oldest traveler with the group,
and the only female veteran.
For this new year, there’s inspiration in both women’s
lives.
While Pontrello first met her older friend through water
aerobics, she’d known of Schmierer through a tragedy. In
1994, Schmierer’s 38-year-old son, Kurt Schmierer, was
killed while climbing a peak in Nepal. A geologist, his
body was never recovered. A doctor had recommended
exercise as a way for Teresa Schmierer to cope with her
grief.
Pontrello remembered Kurt Schmierer from Cascade High
School. A 1976 Cascade graduate, she said Kurt was two
years ahead of her at the Everett school. “For the first
five years, she would cry at the pool, she missed him so
much,” Pontrello said.
“I feel it’s important to talk about people who have
passed away,” said Pontrello. Friendship with Schmierer
has enriched her life, she said.
“I’ve had ups and downs, she’s had ups and downs,”
Pontrello said. Schmierer prays daily for one of
Pontrello’s family members who has had challenges.
Pontrello said her friend “remembers everybody’s birthday,
names of everybody’s kids — she still does.”
“She is so positive, she sees the big picture,” Pontrello
said. “She saw a lot of hardship. It doesn’t color her
world.”
Teresa Schmierer’s record of World War II service was on
display last September when she visited the Women in
Military Service Memorial for America as part of an Honor
Flight trip. (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Teresa Schmierer’s son, Mike Schmierer, wheels her near
the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at
Arlington National Cemetery (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Kim Pontrello (left) with her 100-year-old friend, Teresa
Schmierer, and the older woman’s son, Mike Schmierer,
during their trip to Washington, D.C., last September with
Puget Sound Honor Flight. The nonprofit organization
provides free trips for military veterans to visit the
nation’s memorials. (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Teresa Schmierer, 100, enjoys a special meal during her
Puget Sound Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C., in
September. At her right is her friend Kim Pontrello, who
regularly takes Schmierer to a water aerobics class in
Everett. The elderly woman served as a Navy nurse during
World War II. (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Teresa Schmierer, helped by her son, Mike Schmierer, reads
about the Women in Military Service for America Memorial
during her Puget Sound Honor Flight trip to Washington,
D.C., last September. The 100-year-old served as a Navy
nurse during World War II. (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Teresa Schmierer’s record of World War II service was on
display last September when she visited the Women in
Military Service Memorial for America as part of an Honor
Flight trip. (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Teresa Schmierer’s son, Mike Schmierer, wheels her near
the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at
Arlington National Cemetery (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Teresa Schmierer’s record of World War II service was on
display last September when she visited the Women in
Military Service Memorial for America as part of an Honor
Flight trip. (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Teresa Schmierer’s son, Mike Schmierer, wheels her near
the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at
Arlington National Cemetery (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Kim Pontrello (left) with her 100-year-old friend, Teresa
Schmierer, and the older woman’s son, Mike Schmierer,
during their trip to Washington, D.C., last September with
Puget Sound Honor Flight. The nonprofit organization
provides free trips for military veterans to visit the
nation’s memorials. (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Teresa Schmierer, 100, enjoys a special meal during her
Puget Sound Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C., in
September. At her right is her friend Kim Pontrello, who
regularly takes Schmierer to a water aerobics class in
Everett. The elderly woman served as a Navy nurse during
World War II. (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Teresa Schmierer, helped by her son, Mike Schmierer, reads
about the Women in Military Service for America Memorial
during her Puget Sound Honor Flight trip to Washington,
D.C., last September. The 100-year-old served as a Navy
nurse during World War II. (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Teresa Schmierer’s record of World War II service was on
display last September when she visited the Women in
Military Service Memorial for America as part of an Honor
Flight trip. (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
Teresa Schmierer’s son, Mike Schmierer, wheels her near
the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at
Arlington National Cemetery (Puget Sound Honor Flight)
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